The Atomic Energy Council also said that the natural radioactivity contained in the salt substitutes would do no harm to the human body.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiyen Biotech (台鹽生技) responded to the accusation made by Taiwan’s legislator Kao Chin Su-mei (高金素梅) at a news conference Thursday that three of the salt substitutes manufactured by the company contain high levels of radiation by quoting the statement of the country’s Atomic Energy Council (AEC，原能會) that the products’ containing natural radioactivity would do no harm to the human body but it also said it would send the ingredient of the salt substitutes, potassium chloride, for an assay.

Kao Chin said the report issued by the AEC’s Radiation Monitoring Center earlier in September discovered that among 18 samplings of edible salts that were tested, Taiyen’s three salt substitutes, Dietary Salt, Delicious Salt, and Natural Flavor Salt, contain high doses of Potassium-40 – 8,860 becquerel/kilometer (Bq/Kg), 5,063 Bq/Kg, and 5,063 Bq/Kg respectively – compared to other salt products sold in the domestic or global market.

Kao Chin then asked the company to recall their products immediately and refund its customers.

Taiyen later released a statement quoting the response of the AEC that the tested Potassium-40 is a source of natural radioactivity often found in animal and human bodies. As for Dietary Salt, which reportedly contains the highest level of Potassium-40, the AEC said the radioactive impact of eating Dietary Salt would be too little to be harmful to humans.

Taiyen also said it would send the ingredient of the salt substitutes to several public institutes for an assay, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the AEC.